Film Studies at university

[beccac2901]

Hi im off to university in a few weeks to study film and was wondering if anyone could tell me some films which i really should have watched before starting my degree. Thanks x

[ludwig]

Carry on Camping

[minuteman]

All the Ealing Comedies

[boogieboogie]

Eisenstein - Battleship Potempkin & his other propaganda films (for sure)

Orson Wells The Third Man (Definately)

Carl Dreyer (possibly)

French new wave which brought about british gritty realism (Saturday night Sunday morning, A Taste of Honey etc) era of the 60's (inc Ken Loach)

The Graduate (for the montage sequence)

[marwel7]

Empire currently has a list on their website of 100 DVDs you must own.(I have 16 and 2 of them are on video).That might help.
Don't forget the flms of the 40's and 50s.Check out the great film stars like Humphrey Bogart,Cary Grant,James Stewart,and so on.And great directors,too.

[vehelpfulguy]

Well hopefully the people there will tell you which films to watch.

I would suggest Citizen Kane, often voted the best film of all time.

This was Orsen Welles first film and he wrote it, directed it AND starred in it.

It is the story of a very wealthy man who has everything money can buy, but in the end has nothing.

It starts with him on his death bed and he says the word "Rosebud" just as he takes his last breath.

The rest of the film is a sort of detective story of why his last word was "Rosebud".

The film is loosely based on the life of William Randolph Hirst, a billionaire of the time (still alive then) who was so angry that the film had been made that he offered to buy up all the prints of the film and destroy them.

It is said that "rosebud" was the nickname Randolph Hirst had for his girlfriend's "private parts" which upset him even more.

Here is the opening shot of the movie, moving slowly through Kane's huge estate finishing up as his death bed. See the atmosphere built during these opening 3 minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r0b_XeRkG4&fea ture=related

[vehelpfulguy]

Here is the 100 best DVDs on the Empire web site

http://www.empireonline.com/features/100dvds/m enu.asp?p=1#top

Citizen Kane is number 16.

You can read some user reviews of the film here on the Internet Movie Database

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033467/

[boogieboogie]

Citizen Cane I agree is in cimenatic history as a landmark, but I don't believe for the narrative alone, but more so for the inovation: in directing style, the multi-stranded storylines, deep focus and other camera techniques inc. famously low camera angles. (linguistics of film dominating figures are looked up to). And of course Hirst reactions to the film adds intrigue.

While on the subject of Orson Wells if studdying media the RKO war of the world radio broadcast would be usefull to research in understanding the power of such broadcasts.

[karenmac60]

Anything and everything by David Lynch

[marwel7]

A Matter Of Life And Death is on Channel 4 this Wednesday.